1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lubricating system in a power unit for a vehicle with an internal combustion engine by which the power of an internal combustion engine having a crankshaft directed in the front-rear direction of the vehicle is transmitted to wheels through a static oil hydraulic type non-stage transmission.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known a lubricating system for a power unit for a vehicle with an internal combustion engine in which a static oil hydraulic type non-stage transmission comprised of a swash plate type oil hydraulic pump and a swash plate type oil hydraulic motor is incorporated integrally with an internal combustion engine, wherein a lubricating oil tank is integrally mounted to the front surface of a case of the power unit. The lubricating oil flowing down to a bottom portion of the space inside the power unit is sucked up by a recovery pump, and is charged into the lubricating oil tank. The lubricating oil in the lubricating oil tank is supplied to the portions to be lubricated of the internal combustion engine and to the static oil hydraulic type non-stage transmission by a supply pump. An example of such a lubricating system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-343060.
In the above-mentioned lubricating system for the power unit for a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, the lubricating oil tank is separate from the power unit and is integrally mounted to the outside surface of the power unit. Therefore, the number of component parts is increased, which also increases costs.
In addition, since the static oil hydraulic type non-stage transmission is relatively large in weight and is disposed on either one of the left and right sides of the crankshaft of the internal combustion engine, in order to establish the proper balance between the left side and the right side of the vehicle body it has been necessary to take into account the conditions of arrangement of various shafts in the power unit and the conditions of arrangement of various component parts.
The present invention pertains to a lubricating system for a power unit for vehicle with internal combustion engine, and has been made for solving the problems in the above-mentioned prior art.